November 7 2000 years
An 82-year-old writer and poet has died in the Moscow region. Boris Zakhoder. Popularizer of children's world classics.
Ah, if only Elephants
They would wear it
Trousers -
Whatever
Matter
Did they need them?
Born in 1918 in Moldova, he grew up in Moscow. His father was a lawyer. His mother, a translator, committed suicide when he was 14. It was she who instilled in him a love of foreign literature: at 11, he attempted to translate Goethe himself.
He first studied to be an aviator, then a biologist, and only then entered the Literary Institute. He graduated only after the war.
He fought in the Russo-Finnish War, then the Great Patriotic War. He liberated Lvov. Even then, his patriotic poems were being published in army newspapers.
He was demobilized in 1946; he was kept in reserve until the very end as a German translator.
Adult prose was censored, and for many years I had to write it in a drawer. I decided to write children's poetry.
Gorky's thesis reignedthat you should write for children the same way you write for adults, only better. I liked this idea: I wanted to write better than for adults.
At 30 he made his debut in print with “Sea Battle”.
Often suffers defeat
The bravest admiral,
If there is a place for battle
He made a poor choice!
Because of his Jewish surname, he couldn't find work and worked as a literary apprentice. To survive, he bred and sold rare aquarium fish at the market.
I fed the fish and they fed me
A more resounding debut occurred in 1955: Detgiz published his first collection, "At the Back Desk." The characters in his poems range from funny little children to mischievous schoolchildren, animals, and letters of the alphabet.
I don't feel like getting out of bed:
I'm afraid to step on Kavot, -
There's one living under my bed
The cutest Cavot in the world.
And there is also such concern with him:
It is impossible to feed Kavota,
Because for some reason every piece
Enters Kamut's stomach
He translated into Russian "Winnie the Pooh", "The Bremen Town Musicians", "Mary Poppins", "Peter Pan" and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".
One of the happiest periods of my life was the days I was working on Pooh. It was love at first sight: I saw a picture of this cute little bear [in an English children's encyclopedia], read a few poems, and rushed to find the book.
He was married three times, but the poet had no children of his own.
And if you feel like laughing,
There is no need to be afraid of this either:
After all, if my children laugh,
The world immediately becomes brighter!
In recent years, he has published poems for adults, which he wrote throughout his life.
Gnome
The Gnome complained:
— We eat shit!
- Maybe that's not a bad thing,
There's always a crumb to be found...
This is what the gnomes discussed
Economic issues.
The more people you maim,
The more true you are to yourself
You will immortalize it!
Afraid,
Among the government officials
No
More lofty ideas...
There are few beautiful monkeys
- Almost everyone has their own flaw.
But the ugliest ones
Alas, humanoids